


you look just like an angel in disguise

by rocketshiptospace



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-19
Updated: 2014-06-22
Packaged: 2018-02-05 08:09:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1811389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rocketshiptospace/pseuds/rocketshiptospace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>ashton's an interviewer for a celebrity website and luke's a famous actor and their lives collide when fate slaps ashton right in the face (literally).</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this is so ridiculous but i have a lot of feelings for interviewer!ashton and actor!luke oops
> 
> this was going to be a one-shot at first but i'm deviding it in parts because writing this was taking forever and i just wanted to let you know im still alive and kicking
> 
> also i literally know shit about both the oscars and the press at the oscars so im probably talking a lot of shit but allright

“Deep breaths, Irwin.” Niall reminds him with a pat on the shoulder as they get out of the van. Ashton smiles weakly and takes a deep breath.

It’s just, this is kind of a big deal, really. These are the _Oscars_ for god sake. And he gets to stand on the red carpet.

Well, not really _on_ the red carpet. More like, next to it. He’s reporting the Oscars live for ‘Hi or Hey’, a celebrity news website he recently got a job at. It’s a big deal, because the website’s not that big yet, just a few people working there and they actually got press passes to the _Oscars._

And they choose Ashton to do the interviews. Like, Ashton Irwin, 22 years old, fresh out of college with a journalism degree, gets to go to the Oscars and interview celebrities. He feels his breathing speeding up again.

“Come on, Ash, calm down, it’s gonna be fun.” Niall says, hoisting his camera on his shoulder.

“I am going to die.” Ashton states and Niall rolls his eyes.

“Stop being a drama queen and get your shit together. We have celebrities to interview.” Niall says, determinately walking towards the press entrance of the Dolby theater. 

Ashton takes a deep breath, before grabbing his microphone and some other equipment and rushing after him.

\--

It’s overwhelming, all of it. Ashton’s done red carpets before, isn’t going into it all inexperienced, but he has never seen something as big and over the top as this. Him and Niall are in a secluded section, with the other reporters and journalists and like, all the big names are here, people he looks up to, newspapers he reads every day and _fuck_ this is overwhelming.

And suddenly there’s a ruckus at the front of the group, right by the barriers, and apparently the first stars have arrived.

It’s mostly B-stars, of course, but Ashton doesn’t really care, immediately pushing to the front with Niall. The other reporters let him, probably not finding the names walking past right now to be big enough to spare their time. They’re obviously waiting on the big leagues.

But Ashton’s at the god damn Oscars, for fucks sake, so he’s going to talk to any celebrity he can get his fucking hands on. No matter who it is, it will hopefully deliver some fun footage for the website, and that’s all Ashton’s really going for.

It’s fun, this first part of the red carpet. B-stars are always eager to strike up conversation and they’re relaxed and chilled in the interviews, as Ashton asks them about their outfit choices and who they think are going to win the big prices.

He meets some of his personal favorite celebrities too, like Michael Clifford, the star of the movie ‘Good Girls’, a movie nominated for best soundtrack. They have a laid back conversation, that ends up being more about music than the actual Oscars self, but it’s fun none the less.

“So, who do you think is going to win Best actor in a leading role?” Ashton asks Michael, in an attempt to steer the topic back to the Oscars.

“Oh, I don’t know man, all actors are equally deserving of the award really. But of course I hope my man Luke Hemmings walks away with the golden statue. He fucked knocked them all out of the park with the role of struggling artist in ‘She looks so perfect’.” Michael says.

“Really? I thought you two hated each other?” Ashton commented, revering to some twitter feuds that went on at the beginning of last year. Michael had accused Luke of only taking the roles that would give him a lot of money and it had turned into this whole thing, with fans taking sides and mud being thrown.

“Nah, we got over that when we realized it was all just pointless, really. He’s a really chill dude and an ace actor. I learned a lot from him to be honest. You should definitely try to talk to him later, when he can find it in himself to get here.” Michael says, obviously making a stab at the fact that even though he’s arriving at B-star times, Luke obviously arrives at A-list times. There’s no harshness behind the words though, not like a year ago, when everything either boy said about each other sounded like pure venom.

“All right, mate, I’ll try. Have fun and I hope your movie wins!” Ashton says, genuine smile on his face. Michael waves one last time and then he’s off in the crowd, being pulled over by the next reporter.

“See?” Niall says from behind the camera. “All fun and games.”

Ashton bites his lips and looks in the direction the stars are coming from. “For now. Wait till the fucking A-listers arrive, it’s going to be mad house here.”

Niall tries to pat his shoulder and almost clunks the reporter next to him in the head with his camera because of it. “Don’t worry, bud, we’ll be fine.”

\--

Ok, so, they’re not fine.

The A-listers have started to arrive and _fuck_ this is mental. Ashton’s constantly getting pushed aside by other reporters who are trying to find the best spots, talk to the biggest stars and he’s six feet for god sake, he should not be scared of those tiny 5’3ft women who surround him but they have these _nails_ and they _hurt_  and fuck this is really not fun anymore.

Even Niall looks a bit petrified. Ashton tries to remember how to breath. “You know, if this is what playing the big leagues is like, I don’t want it anymore. Let’s leave this place. Let’s go to the fucking premiere of the Wiggles movie. Everything is better than this.” Ashton says, wincing in pain when the tiny blonde reporter next to him jabs and elbow in his side so she can get closer to the barrier.

“There’s a Wiggles movie?” Niall asks, and Ashton’s like ninety percent sure he can actually see a glint of excitement in Niall’s eyes.

“Not the point I was making, Niall.” He says, and ignores Niall’s disappointed murmuring in favor of focusing his attention on the red carpet again.

And suddenly his eyes are meeting a pair of bright blue ones and he momentarily forgets to breath.

He knows who those eyes belong to, of course, because those eyes have been staring at him from posters on his walls for years. First in his tiny bedroom in his parents’ house, then from the walls of his own apartment and later from the walls of the ‘Hi or Hey’ office.

Those are the eyes of Luke Hemmings. Actual, million dollar contract actor Luke Hemmings. And he’s staring right at him, mouth slightly parted. Ashton is actually going to die.

So yeah, maybe Ashton has a little bit of a tiny crush on Luke. Or maybe it’s a big crush. And like, maybe Niall called it ‘an obsession’ once. Who cares, really. Not Ashton, that is.

It’s just, Luke is a really good actor and he has been in the business for so long and Ashton has really seen him grow as a person and he remembers struggling with his sexuality and then hearing Luke had come out of the closet and that made it so so much easier for Ashton to do the same, because he wasn’t alone, someone he looked up to was the same, and it was ok.

And now those eyes are staring right at him.

Right, remember what Niall said, Irwin, deep breaths, deep breaths.

But then all the other reporters are noticing Luke looking their way too and they start waving at him and yelling his name and Ashton’s getting buried under reporters again.

He’s really questioning why he ever decided this is what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.

Right now there are arms everywhere, from people trying to get Luke’s attention and that’s when it happens.

One particularly enthusiastic reporter waves around his microphone and hits Ashton square in the face with it.

Ashton feels nothing but burning pain as his world turns black.

\--

“Come on, Ash, wake up!” Is the first thing he hears when he regains consciousness. He slowly tries to open his eyes, but there’s a bright white light and he quickly closes them again.

“Oh, thank god you’re alive.” He hears Niall’s voice somewhere above in. When he opens his eyes again he’s actually capable of leaving them open and all he sees is Niall’s concerned face.

“ Where am I?” He croaks, slowly trying to sit up.

“The emergency room. It’s where all the people with injuries during the Oscars go. You’d be surprised of the amount of people actually in here. Mostly people fainting due to hydration or the overwhelming amount of celebrities, though. Just talked to one of the nurses though and she said she never actually had anyone in here with a slight concussion and a black eye because of a microphone hit. But, you know, there’s a first time for everything.” Niall cheerily rambles, while pushing Ashton back into the pillows and handing him a glass of water.

“So, you remember what happened?” Niall asks him, while gesturing towards a nurse a few beds away from them that Ashton has woken up.

“All I remember is being smothered in people and then being hit in the face by a microphone. Everything’s black after that, really.” Ashton says, as the nurse walks over and starts checking his body vitals.

“You’re free to go. Everything seems fine. But keep in mind that you might have a slight concussion, so just in case, make sure someone wakes you up about every three hours when you fall asleep. You could get into a coma otherwise.”  The nurse says, sending him a sweet smile.

“Thank you.” Ashton says, getting out of the bed and following Niall in the direction of the exit. “So, tell me what happened?”

Niall grinned. “Oh mate, you are going to _love_ this story.” He says, eyes sparkling. “So basically, you get knocked to the floor, right? And like, I’m trying to get to you, but I’m still holding the camera and there’s all these people in the way and like I literally could not get close to you and you were just sort of lying there on the floor and I had no idea if you were all right.” Niall rambles, and Ashton squeezes his shoulder to let him know it’s ok, because it’s obvious his friend is still really upset about it.

Niall smiles at him. “Anyway, like, all of the sudden there’s even more screaming and yelling and the only thing I can see is you being lifted up and hoisted over the barriers onto the red carpet and I’m just like ‘Fuck’ because it looked like someone was kidnapping you, but like, who would kidnap someone on a red carpet with all this press around? And also why drag you onto the red carpet? There were even more people that could see you there.”

 Niall sees the look Ashton sends him and clears his throat. “Right. Moving on. Anyway, so at this point I’m kind of desperate to get to you, so I’m like, fuck it, right? So I hand my camera to the dude next to me, you know the reporter I was talking to earlier this day? I think his name was Liam. Anyway, I push myself through all the reporters and threw myself over the barrier, it was pretty spectacular actually, I hope someone has it on camera. Look, I even got a cool bruise from it.” Niall says, pausing as he lifts his shirt to show a bruise on his hip that’s currently blue-ish, but slowly turning purple.

“Ehm, cool?” Ashton says, not sure what to say. They’re still in the hallway next to the emergency room, but he’s kind of ok with that. His heads still hurting and he kind of doesn’t want to be around people right now.

“I know right! So, anyway, I get there, and everyone starts yelling at me and I’m like ‘hold the fuck up you motherfuckers he’s my mate I deserve to know what the fuck’s going on’. Maybe not in those exact words though, the dude I was talking to was really big and beefy . So then I show them my press pass, which obviously states the same press website as yours and they were like sure so like, I turn around to finally see if you’re ok and god you are going to love this part.” Niall’s eyes are shining and Ashton raises a suspicious eyebrow.

“You are lying on the floor, out as a light and people are running around to get someone from the emergency room, or really anyone with first aid, but like, the best part of it all was the fact that none other than motherfucking _Luke Hemmings_ was holding a wet cloth to your head and like, sitting on the floor next to you all concerned and yelling at people to get help and Ashton, _he was the one to hoist you over the barrier._ Like, fuck, the dude went _out of his way_ to make sure you were ok, like when the paramedics arrived his manager literally had to forbid him to go with you ‘cause he was all like ‘No, I have to make sure he’s all right, I have to go with him’ and then when his manager wouldn’t let him he threw such a fit, fuck, he genuinely thought it was his fault you had been knocked out, he felt so bad.”

Ashton is staring at Niall with wide eyes, not really believing what he’s hearing. “You are kidding me.”

“Absolutely not. It’s already all over the internet, with all those reporters around there were at least like ten people filming it. Everyone’s going mad over it. That and over the fact that Luke Hemmings is officially the youngest actor ever to win an Oscar for best actor.” Niall states, holding up his phone.

“Wait, what? How long have I been out for?” Ashton asks, trying to process everything that Niall was telling him.

“Like the whole night, dude. It’s like one in the morning now. You missed most of the red carpet, the entire show plus the after show press conferences. Most celebrities have fucked off to those fancy after Oscar parties by now.” Niall said, sounding apologetic.

“Fuck, our boss is going to be so pissed. We only have a few B-star interviews. From the entire Oscars. We didn’t even get to interview _the youngest winner of the best actor in a leading role ever._ ” Ashton said with a groan.

“ Seriously, Ash? That’s what you’re focusing on? Trust me, the boss is not going to be that pissed when he learns that one, you’ve been injured and two, Liam continued filming with my camera and he has some of the best shots of the whole thing happening. Including my shots of you getting hit in the face in the first place. We’ll whip up some video of that whole thing and he’ll probably adore us for it. It’s quality TV, really.” Niall reassures him.

“Thanks.” Ashton mutters, not really sure how he feels about being the butt of everyone’s jokes.

Niall softly nudges his shoulder. “Hey, don’t be like that. I can tell you think people are laughing at you because of what happened, but actually they adore you. There’s already a whole feud about safety for both reporters and celebrity, since some continued to harass Luke even though he was trying to help you, and literally everyone feels bad for you and thinks you’re the cutest thing ever, which, well, you kind of are.”

Ashton rolls his eyes. “Sure, Niall.”

Niall sighs deeply. “I’m serious, Ash! Just look!” He shoves his phone in Ashton’s face and Ashton carefully takes it from him.

It’s opened on Niall’s twitter app, on the hashtag ‘Lukeisahero’ and next to people congratulating Luke for winning his Oscar, there are indeed multiple people referencing what they call ‘the reporter incident’.

_@hemmingsismyeverything:  omfg luke saving that reporter though that was super cute and the reporter is also super cute I SHIP IT #lukeisahero_

_@lukegirl5ever: LUKE LIFTING THAT REPORTER OVE R THE BARRIER AND STAYING WITH HIM UNTIL HIS MANAGER FORBID HIM FUCK BYE #lukeisahero_

_@lukeypoo: LUKE WAS SO SMITTEN FOR THAT REPORTER THOUGH FUCK I SHIP IT #lukeisahero_

“People are… shipping us?” Ashton says, a bit overwhelmed, handing Niall his phone back. He knows what shipping is, has been on celebrity news sites long enough to know what it means, he just never thought people would do it with _him._

“Yeah, it’s pretty funny. Apparently Luke seemed totally smitten with you.” Niall says. “Oh, here, Liam send me the video from our camera.” He adds, handing Ashton his phone again.

Ashton hits play and it’s weird, seeing himself fall down like that, just crumble to the ground and then there’s a heavy shaking in the camera, as Niall tries to reach him and then suddenly the camera steadies again and Niall is jumping over the barrier and Liam zooms in on Ashton on the floor and yeah, there he is, Luke Hemmings, frantically yelling at someone behind him while he’s dabbing Ashton’s forehead with a wet cloth.

It’s weird, to see himself so lifeless like that, but it’s also endearing, how Luke’s fussing over him. Ashton’s heart skips a beat when he sees video Luke leaning over Ashton, hand still on his forehead and checking the bruising around his eye.

“You know what would be cool?” Ashton muttered, handing the phone back to Niall.

“No, what?” Niall asks, pocketing his phone.

“If I had been, you know, like, conscious.” Ashton says with a sigh and Niall laughs.

“Sorry, bud. Better luck next time. Come on, let’s go home.”  Niall says, leading Ashton out of the hallway they were still standing in.

\--

Ashton wakes up the next morning with a gigantic headache. Niall had woken him up every three hours as promised and he hadn’t really noticed back then, but now he’s actually fully awake and _fuck_ it hurts.

Niall is asleep on the couch in the living room, since he can hear the boys snores coming through the slightly ajar door.

He checks his phone. It’s 2 pm and he has about 20 missed calls an 67 texts, all form concerned family members and friends. He replies to the most important ones (like his mom, slightly ashamed of himself that he hadn’t let her know he was ok the night before) and then clicks through the twitter app.

Apparently people figured out that he was the reporter that got knocked out, since he has several new followers and a bunch of people tweeting him and asking him if he’s ok, so he sends out a quick tweet.

_@ashtonirwin: just want to let everyone know I’m ok. black eye and a slight concussion but still alive. thanks to @lukehemmings for taking care of me xx_

He knows mentioning Luke and adding the xx’s is a bit risky, but he doesn’t really care right now. His head is hurting and he’s just glad at least someone had the decency to see if he was all right. And yeah, maybe he kind of hopes Luke will see it. It’s not going to happen, but a boy can dream.

He carefully gets out of bed, pausing every time he feels a wave of nausea coming up. His head’s still thumping and his eye hurts like a dick, but other than that he feels pretty ok. He feels like he should be more bumped after missing most of the Oscars, but in reality he’s just really glad that he at least survived, because _fuck_ that was mental.

He shuffles into the living room and grabs Niall’s phone, turning of the alarm that’s supposed to go off every three hours, throwing a blanket over Niall’s sleeping form before shuffling to the kitchen. The blond boy deserves some proper sleep after all he went through last night and all he did for Ashton.

After making coffee in the kitchen, Ashton sits down at the table and starts thumbing through his phone again. There’s a few replies on his tweet, some of his friends wishing him well, some people sending him links to videos of the accident (which he decides to ignore. He saw all he needed to see of it in Niall’s video last night.) and some of them are sending him all capslock tweets about him and Luke.

Even though he’s not opposed to shipping, he still finds it kind of weird people are doing it with him.

He replies to a few friends and looks through the list of people that favorited his tweet, more out of boredom than anything else, but his heart literally stops for a second when he reads one of the more recent favorites.

_@lukehemmings favorited this tweet_

Luke Hemmings just favorited his tweet.  Luke Hemmings acknowledged his existence for the second time in a row and this time he was actually consciously there.

Deep breaths, Irwin, deep breaths.

Even though the favorite is really cool, when Ashton starts thinking about it he finds himself actually disappointed Luke didn’t tweet back. He shakes it off because _his favorite actor ever just favorited his tweet for fucks sake._

He sighs and grabs his coffee and his phone, standing up from the table in favor of heading back to bed. His head is hurting like a bitch and really doesn’t have anywhere to be so he might as well go and lay down for a bit, maybe watch a movie.

So that’s how he spends the day after the Oscars, watching Disney movies in bed. Halfway Finding Nemo Niall shuffles into the room and joins him and Ashton’s head still hurts like a bitch and the skin around his eyes feels all tight and uncomfortable but he’s watching fun movies with his best friend so he guesses it’s kind of ok.

\--

Life goes on after that. The hype around Ashton and Luke dies down rather quickly, especially because the boys have no further interaction. Ashton’s kind of glad for that, even though he does think it’s a pity him and Luke never spoke after the incident.

Ashton’s boss assigns him to the ‘one-on-one’ interviews after the incident. He still does red carpets every now and then, but just small ones. He does want to go back to big red carpets soon and his boss is ok with that, but right now they both think it’s best he sticks to the one-on-one interviews.

Ashton misses red carpet’s a bit. The Oscars were mental, yeah, but mostly red carpets are pretty chill and the stars are always excited and full of energy. With the one-on-one interviews, he always knows exactly who he’s going to talk to, has all his questions already prepared and there’s never much excitement from the stars, who most of the time have been doing these interviews all day and are desperate to go home and get some rest.

But right now, Michael’s here and for the first time since he started doing one-on-one interviews, Ashton finds he’s enjoying himself again.

“So, Michael, how excited were you when your movie ‘Good Girls’ won best soundtrack?” Ashton asks. They’re in the Hi or Hey main office, seated on the office’s black ‘interview couch’, Niall smiling at them from behind their camera. Niall also stopped doing red carpets for awhile, claiming he had much more fun when he was with Ashton, no matter what they did. Ashton loves him forever for it, can’t think he can really deal with anyone else being his camera man beside Niall.

“Oh man, it was so cool. You know how much I love music, right, and like, I know I didn’t really participate much in the creation of the soundtrack I still loved it a lot. It fitted the movie really well and then to win an _Oscar_ for it, of all things, is like a really big deal. So yeah, I was pretty pumped.”

“And the Oscars self? How were they?” Ashton asks.

“Fun, so much fun. These were my first Oscars and the atmosphere was so good. There’s just all these amazing people that you’ve looked up to for so long and they’re there and they start talking to you and a lot of underdogs in the film industry, like hair and make-up artist and camera guys finally get acknowledged for their hard work and it’s just so much fun.” Michael rambles, obviously excited, even though the Oscars were about three weeks ago.

“So the Oscars were fun. But what now? Do you have any upcoming projects?” Ashton asks and Michael’s eyes suddenly start to sparkle.

“Yeah, I have this one project coming up that I’m really excited for.” He says, leaning closer towards Ashton, obviously enthusiastic about this particular project.  “It’s a movie called ‘Amnesia’ and it’s about a gay couple who have just started building up their lives together, you know, house, considering adopting kids, things like that, but then one of the guys, me actually, starts showing signs of amnesia, and then it shows the couple’s struggle to stay together, while my character slowly loses more and more of his memory. It’s a really interesting plot and I’m really excited to start working on it.”

Ashton raises his eyebrows in respect. “Sounds like a heavy subject. Most of the time projects like these all depend on the chemistry between the main characters. So, who is playing your boyfriend in this movie.”

Michael laughs. “Funny story, actually. It’s Luke Hemming. I know the two of us had a rocky start in the beginning, as we talked about during the Oscars, but we did a screen test for this movie and we actually hit it off really well. I’m really happy to work with him, to be honest. He’s a really good actor and I know I can learn a lot from him. So yeah, really excited.”

Ashton smiles. “It sounds like a great project. And Luke  seems like a great guy. At least, from what I’ve heard.”

Michael laughs again. “Yeah, he really is. It’s a shame you were unconscious when you met him, really. I’m sure you two would’ve gotten on like a house on fire.” He says, a sparkle in his eyes, like he knows more that he’s not telling Ashton.

Ashton blushes. “God, please let’s not mention that catastrophe again. I really just want to forget that ever happened.”

Michael nods. “Understandable. Although you were lucky Luke was around. Not everyone would have done that for you.” He says, and again there’s that knowing glint in his eyes.

Ashton decides to shake it off. “Yeah, that was nice from him.” He says, not able to will away the small smile that plays on his lips. “Anyway, enough about me, more about you. Your movie has obviously gotten a lot more attention after winning an Oscar, and now with this upcoming project, can you notice an increase in fans?”  Ashton asks, successfully steering the topic away from Luke Hemmings.

The interview ends shortly after that, Ashton and Michael promising each other they’ll keep in touch, so they exchange phone numbers before Michael hurries out the door again, on his way to his next interview.

\--

It continues like that for a few weeks, Ashton doing some boring one-on-one interviews and one or two tiny red carpets with only B-listers. It’s fine though, he’s fine.

Just bored out of his mind, really.

“You are going to love today’s star.” Niall says as he walks over to him, smirk on his face.

“Ok.” Ashton says, not looking up from where he’s thumbing through his phone. “Who is it?”

Niall ruffles through Ashton’s hair and smiles. “Not telling you. It’s going to be a surprise.”

Ashton sighs. Niall and his stupid surprises. He’s really not in the mood for it, but he’s not going to try and pry it out of Niall. He knows that when Niall gets like this, it’s impossible for Ashton to try and get him to tell him his ‘surprise’.

“Fun.” He just comments and looks back down to his phone.

“Just you wait.” Niall says, eyes sparkling.

Ashton just sighs again.

\--

He is going to murder Niall. He’s going to take Niall’s dumb stupid idiotic Irish body and he’s going to drown it in a river. Wait no, he’s going to tear of his limbs first and then throw him in a river. Or burn him alive. Yeah, he should probably just burn him alive.

The reason for these murderous thoughts are the ‘surprise’ celebrity that’s now standing right in front of him.

Ashton glares at Niall for a good while before focusing his eyes back on none other than Luke Hemmings.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh man, this is it. i've finished the fic that officially ranks at number two of longest fics i've ever written rn and man i'm slightly sad i'm done but also a bit excited because i love this fic a lot and i hope you guys do too??

“Hi.” Ashton tries to keep calm and collected, but this is _Luke Hemmings_ , for fucks sake, so it comes out as a helpless squeak.

“Hello.” Luke says, smiling brightly at Ashton. Ashton hates his life.

“I, eh, am interviewing you today?” _Smooth, Irwin, really smooth_.

Luke laughs. Ashton dies. “Yeah, I guess you are.”

A silence falls over the room as Luke and Ashton just sort of stare at each other.

“I’m , eh, Ashton.” Ashton stutters awkwardly when he realizes he hasn’t even introduced himself yet. He extends his hand and Luke’s shakes it. Luke’s hand fits perfectly in Ashton’s and Ashton reminds himself to keep breathing.

“I know. We, like, sort of met at the Oscars?” Luke says, just as awkward as Ashton, really.

“Oh god, you remember that. You know that was me. Great. Wonderful.” Ashton says with a groan, burying his face in his hand.

“Yeah, you’re, eh, not really easy to forget.” Luke says and if Ashton hadn’t had his head buried in his hand, he would’ve seen the blush creeping up on Luke’s features.

“So, like, how is your eye?” Luke asks, trying to relieve some of the awkward tension in the room.

“Eh, yeah, pretty good. It’s gone and it doesn’t hurt anymore, so, yeah.” Ashton mutters.

“Good. I, fuck, I’m sorry, for what happened.” Luke says, staring intently at his shoes.

Ashton looks up at him, surprised. “Why? It wasn’t your fault. Just, press being a bit mental.” Ashton says with a shrug.

Luke shrugs. “Yeah, I know, I just, I can’t help feeling guilty.”

Ashton shakes his head. “Please don’t. You actually hoisted me over the barrier and got me to safety, which is more any other celebrity would’ve done. I’m kind of grateful. Actually, I should be thanking you. So, thank you.”

Ashton is looking down at his shoes as he says this, so yet again he doesn’t see the way Luke starts blushing.

But the minute Luke opens his mouth to say something, the door gets swung open and a boy with black hair and a grey NASA t-shirt bursts into the room.

“Who the fuck are you?” Niall asks and Ashton almost jumps out of his skin when he realizes the blond boy was still there. He also sees the red light of his camera blinking. Great, Niall filmed the entire meeting. Wonderful. This day is just getting better and better.

The boy glares at Niall. “My name’s Calum and I’m here to tell you to hurry the fuck up, because Luke has another interview in like, half an hour.” He says defensively.

“Calum.” Luke says sternly, looking at the boy and apparently telling him something with his eyes, because suddenly Calum’s eyes widen.

“Oh. Oooooh. Oh, yeah, ok, I’ll leave you alone for a bit.” He says, quickly scrambling towards the door again. He turns around when he’s about to leave the room, sending a smirk in Luke’s direction. “Have fun.” He says, wiggling his eyebrows before leaving the room, laughing loudly to himself.

“Fucking weirdo.” Luke mutters, before turning back to Ashton. “That was Calum. He’s my personal assistant as well as a pain in the ass, but I can’t fire him because he’s my best friend and also the best in the business.” Luke says with a small smile.

Ashton smiles back. “He seems nice. But he also seems like I shouldn’t ruffle his feathers. So, should we just start this interview then?”

Luke nods and Ashton leads him towards the couch. When they sit down, Ashton maybe sits a bit closer to Luke than he normally does. Can you really blame him though, when his favorite actor is literally sitting _right there._

“So, Luke, I just want to start off by congratulating you on your Oscar win.” Ashton says, easily falling into interviewer mode. He’s a professional after all.

“Yeah, it was really a memorable night. Won an award, met some interesting people.” Luke says, winking at Ashton.

Ashton blushes. Ok maybe not that professional. “Yes, all right, that’s eh, cool, yeah.” He stutters. Niall wildly gestures at him to get his shit together from behind the camera.

“Ok. I’m not going to asks you anymore questions about the Oscars, you’re probably a bit tired of constantly hearing the same questions by now.” Ashton says. _I also want to avoid talking about our first ‘meeting’, thank you very much._ He silently adds in his head.

Luke seems grateful though.

“Instead I would like to talk to you about your upcoming projects. I know ‘Don’t Stop’ coming out in a few weeks, are you excited for that?”

Luke nods enthusiastically. “Yes, definitely. After doing such a heavy movie like ‘She looks so perfect’, ‘Don’t Stop’ was just such a breath of fresh air. It’s just a fun super hero movie and playing the villain for once was really fun.” He says, smiling brightly.

“Yes, you play the super villain in the movie, how was that like?” Ashton asks, slowly getting more comfortable in the conversation.

“Really cool, like I said, nice change of pace. Obviously Dr. Fluke is not the best of the super villain’s and it was a lot of fun to just goof around on set, but also to get into the more serious, darker parts of Dr. Fluke’s character.” Luke says, obviously excited.

“So, while this is a more fun, goofy movie, I heard you also had some very serious projects in the near future. I spoke with Michael just a few weeks ago and he mentioned ‘Amnesia’, which obviously has a lot heavier story line. Did you intentionally put a more serious role after this rather goofy one or did you just fell in love with the plot and thought ‘this is what I want to do’?”

Luke nods, suddenly a lot more serious. “No, I really didn’t think about whether or not to do a more serious plot, it was more like, they send me the script and I read it and I just fell so in love with it. The character I play, the boyfriend of the boy with amnesia, is such a heavy character and it just really spoke to me, the helplessness he possesses when he sees his boyfriend slowly losing his memory was just so heart breaking and I just immediately wanted to do it.”

“And you are openly gay, did that influence your choice in anyway?” Ashton asks, curious quirk of his eyebrow in Luke’s direction.

“Yes, of course. There’s not a lot of homosexual characters in movies nowadays and I really think that needs to change, so the sexual orientation of the characters was a vital part in choosing the role. I especially liked the fact the plot never really focuses on the fact they’re two dudes. It’s just about two people in love who have just horribly heartbreaking things happening to them.” Luke says with a nod.

“Do you feel like you could really help people with this role? Like you said, the story doesn’t focus on the main characters being gay, which means it probably shows a positive homosexual relationship. Do you think that will, in any way, effect some of your fans? The ones struggling with their sexuality especially. Because, like, you really helped me figure out my own sexuality when you came out of the closet. It gave me enough courage to come out of the closet too, which I want to thank you for by the way.” Ashton says and _fuck_ why did he have to mention that.

Because like now Luke knows he’s a fan and it’s also super unprofessional to talk about yourself during an interview and _fuck_ Ashton’s actually going to get fired after this interview.

Luke smiles brightly, though. “Really? That’s so cool! I think it’s really important, yeah, that people struggling with their sexuality see things like that and see that it’s ok to ‘be like that’. I don’t know if it’s going to help anyone figure out their sexuality, but at least it will portray a positive view on the LGBTQA community, which is always good.” He says.

“I’d say that’s a good note to end on, since your personal assistant is glaring at me through the little window in the door.” Ashton says, gesturing towards the door.

And yes, indeed, Calum’s standing there, glaring and gesturing at his watch. Luke laughs. “Yeah, it’s time to wrap up, I’m afraid. I had fun, really.” He says, turning back to Ashton and smiling genuinely.

“Me too.” Ashton says, smiling shyly. They sort of awkwardly shake hands and then Niall’s yelling “Cut!” and Calum ambles into the room and starts talking schedules to Luke.

“See you later!” Luke yells over his shoulder as Calum is dragging him out of the room.

“Bye!” Ashton yells after him, and then he’s gone.

“Fuck, he’s hot.” Ashton says with a sigh and Niall laughs.

“Man, you should’ve seen the sexual tension between you two. Thank god we have it all on camera.” He says, grinning at Ashton.

Ashton flips him off. “ Just edit it and upload it, you dick.”

Niall huffs. “Oh, shut up. You’re just pissy you didn’t get his phone number.” 

And that’s when it hits Ashton that no, he didn’t. This was his only change to properly talk to Luke and maybe charm his pants off and he completely blew it by being the most awkward human being on the planet.

And then he goes and doesn’t even ask for his phone number. Well, ok, it’s not like he had the time, since Luke was out of there faster than Niall could eat an entire buffet, but still. He would’ve liked to keep in contact with Luke. Like, purely friendly and stuff.

"How did we even get him anyway?" Ashton asks, shaking himself out of his confusing thoughts. Luke's really huge in the business right now and stars like him are known to ask a lot of money for doing interviews, especially when they're for small unknown websites or magazines like 'Hi or Hey'.

 

"He offered to do it for free. Contacted us and everything." Niall says with a wicked grin on his face.

 

Ashton raises an eyebrow, but doesn't comment on it. He doesn't really want to discuss why Luke offered to do an interview for such a small website for free.

 

"Actually, he specifically requested you to interview him." Niall adds.  

 

Yeah, right, like Luke Hemmings would actually request Ashton for the interview. But he appreciates Niall's attempt at cheering him up, so he sends the boy a small smile before collecting his stuff and walking back to his desk, knowing he won't really get anything done today, not after all that happened.

 

\--

 

The interview goes viral and the internet explodes. There’s both praise over the open discussion of gay characters in movie and people shipping them. Ashton still thinks it’s weird that there are actually people out there who think he and Luke are meant to be together, but it’s slowly becoming more normal. Which should probably even be more worrying.

 

He tries to ignore it, mostly. He's not used to all the attention he's getting and it makes him a bit uncomfortable. He doesn't see or speak to Luke for another few weeks and even though he's bummed, it's normal, really. It wasn't like he was expecting a blooming romance just because the guy saved him after he was dumb enough to get slammed in the face by a microphone, of all things.

 

It's just, during the interview there were these moments where he thought Luke and him might've actually been flirting and it hurts a bit that he never got the chance to see if they could become something more.

And then he gets assigned another red carpet. Not just any red carpet, no, he and Niall are going to 'Don't Stop' the feel good movie of the year starring none other than Luke Hemmings.

Despite the fact that he's nervous about possibly seeing Luke again, Ashton's also excited. It's the first big red carpet he's doing after the Oscar incident and he's more than ready to get back into the field.

Even though it’s a pretty big movie, there’s definitely less interviewers and reporters than at the Oscars, Ashton notes as they arrive in their trusty van.

He talks to a few reporters here and there, knows some of them from previous red carpets and some know him from the Oscar incident. He expertly avoids any questions about Luke, knowing people like these are the last people you should ever spill your guts too.

The first stars start arriving, mostly extras and behind the scenes people, but Ashton still takes the time to strike up conversation with some of them. Who knows, maybe they’ll end up famous and he’ll be able to say he knew them when they still did small roles. Or something like that.

He mostly does it to calm his nerves really. The excited, wide eyed minor stars disctract him from the fact that Luke can walk down this exact red carpet any moment and that he’ll see him again and even though he has already met him twice now, he still can’t really comprehend that Luke’s actually _real._

Harry Styles, who plays the superhero, arrives before Luke, but Ashton doesn’t get to talk to him. His publicist obviously steers him away from the smaller magazines and websites and only lets Harry talk to the big leagues. Ashton’s not that bumped, he didn’t really expect to get a chance to talk to him anyway.

Besides, he got to talk to Louis Tomlinson, who plays Harry’s side kick and that guy’s funny as hell, so it’s ok, really.

Ashton’s distracted by Harry Styles, trying to listen in on the interview (because even though he’s no Luke Hemmings, he’s still pretty interesting to listen to) so he doesn’t really notice the arrival of a new star until Niall is frantically shaking his shoulder.

Ashton turns to Niall, who points at the red carpet and the minute Ashton turns around, his eyes lock with Luke’s.

His breath catches in his throat as he sees those bright blue eyes looking right into his. He doesn’t really properly regain his breath until Luke breaks their eye contact in favor of talking to Calum, who’s standing next to him.

Ashton’s a bit disappointed their special moment’s gone, but he doesn’t have time to dwell on it, because only seconds later Luke’s heading over to them, Calum in tow.

It’s much less mental at the Oscars (Ashton successfully avoids getting hit in the face with a microphone again) but the reporters around them still seem to gravitate towards Luke, who’s now standing right in front of Ashton.

“Hello.” Luke says, small smile on his face.

“Hi.” Ashton breathes out. He still has a hard time keeping his cool around Luke.

Ashton and Luke stare at each other for a few seconds, completely forgetting why they’re actually there, until Niall harshly pokes Ashton in the ribs from behind.

Ashton snaps out of it, suddenly insanely aware of the camera Niall’s holding, that’s pointed in his direction.

“So, Luke, you look, eh, really good tonight. Like, really good. You excited?” Ashton says and he immediately wants to slap himself in the face. Very professional Irwin.

It’s just, Luke’s wearing a _suit,_ with this cute little bowtie and Ashton’s a sucker for suits and bowties.

Luke laughs. “Thanks, Ash. Don’t look so bad yourself either.” He says with a wink, and it’s almost like they’re just having a normal friendly (ok maybe a bit too friendly) conversation, rather than an interview. “But yeah, really excited. Really hope the people will like it, since this project has been so much fun to work on.” Luke adds.

“I’m sure they’ll like it. You’re in it, after all.” Ashton says and holy shit, _is he flirting?_ Fuck, he needs to end this now, until it gets too unprofessional.

An imagine comes in mind of him grabbing Luke by the front of his shirt and half dragging him over the barrier between them so he can properly kiss him and he tells his brain to shut the fuck up.

“Anyway,” Ashton says, both him and Luke slightly blushing. “Is there a significant difference between this red carpet and, for example the one you  walked for the premier of ‘She looks so perfect’? Since they are such different movies.”

Luke nods. “Yeah, I think there’s a difference between the two, yeah. First of all ‘She looks so perfect’ was a movie that was really, like, emotional and more dramatic than this movie, so there was like a whole different crowd. When walking the red carpet for ‘She looks so perfect’ I was a lot more nervous to see if people would like it, to be honest. That was such a heavy project for me, and ‘Don’t Stop’ was just a lot more fun, so I don’t know, both movies are really close to my heart, but the biggest difference would be the mood that hangs on the red carpet. It’s a lot more fun and festive now.”

Luke pauses for a second and smiles at Ashton. “I do think I like this premiere better than the one for ‘She looks so perfect’ though. There’s a lot of really interesting people tonight.” Luke says as he’s staring directly into Ashton’s eyes and Ashton forgets how to breath for the second time that night.

“I, eh, yeah, lot of fun.” Ashton stutters. He’s totally going to get fired. He’s never going to be allowed to do red carpets ever again. “So, what was your favorite part to film in the movie?” He asks, blurting out one of those standard questions in a last attempt to safe this disaster of an interview.

Seriously, Irwin, get your shit together.

“Oh, easy, there’s one scene where Harry and I get in a really heated pillow fight, which was a lot of fun, to be honest. Like, they had these super big fluffy pillows with a million of feathers in it and they just exploded everywhere, so that was really cool. But, like almost every scene was really cool.” Luke says, still smiling brightly at Ashton.

“And working with Harry Styles, how was that?” Ashton says, glad the interview is sort of back on track.

“So much fun. Really, the guy’s a blast. Such a dork, though.” Luke says.

 “I heard that!” Someone screams from behind Luke and suddenly Ashton finds himself eye to eye with Harry Styles.

“Is he talking shit about me again?” Harry says, trying to sound annoyed, but smiling widely.

“Always.” Luke says, without missing a beat.

Harry laughs, before his eyes land on Ashton. “Wait a minute aren’t you…” Suddenly a grin spreads over Harry’s face. “You’re Ashton Irwin.”

“Eh, yeah, I am?” Ashton says, slightly confused.

“Interesting…” Harry says, still grinning as he looks Ashton up and down.

“Oh no, would you look at the time! We have so much more interviews to do, so many pictures to take, come on, Harry!” Luke suddenly blurts out, grabbing Harry by the arm and dragging him off abruptly.

“Bye Ash!” Luke manages to yell over their shoulder, as he heads over to the next interviewer. Ashton frowns. He’s disappointed in Luke’s sudden disappearance.

Maybe his flirting had scared him off? Ashton sighs. Life’s a bitch, really.

“Weird guy. I like him.” Niall says, switching his camera from his left to his right shoulder.

“Yeah,” Ashton mumbles, staring at the spot Luke was standing only seconds ago. “Me too.”

 

\--

 

So Ashton may have a little bit of a serious crush now. Like, he sort of always knew it, in the back of his mind, but he’s finally done ignoring it. He kind of really likes Luke Hemmings and it sucks because he hasn’t seen him since the ‘Don’t Stop’ premiere, when he just sort of ran off, dragging Harry Styles with him.

It’s a few months later now, and he should probably be done with this little crush thing, but somehow, Luke’s still constantly floating through the back of his mind. It’s ridiculous, he thinks, since he never even _dated_ Luke. He just talked to him. Like, two times.

But Ashton has never said he was a normal person, so he really doesn’t give a shit.

He’s bummed right now, because the ‘Amnesia’ premiere is tomorrow and his boss put someone else on the job. He’s not jealous, he understands it, because despite the fact that the last interview he had with Luke was a mega hit, it was also slightly unprofessional and his boss didn’t really like it.

But he’s still disappointed. Premieres are the only way to see Luke, since he doesn’t have his number or anything.

Once again he wishes he had had the nerve to ask Luke for his phone number during the one-on-one interview.

So the movie premieres and Ashton sits on the couch and sulks with his laptop on his lap, scrolling at twitter and scowling and every single person that posts a picture of the premiere. Luke looks good tonight. Ashton’s going to kill someone. Preferably Luke. Or the guy currently doing red carpet interviews for Hi or Hey in his place. Zayn something.

He’s being pathetic and he knows it, but he can’t help it when Luke’s wearing a godforsaken _leather jacket_ and super skinny jeans and _fuck_ he’s hot.

Ashton takes a swig of his bottle of beer and continues scrolling.

This is actually what his life has become, he thinks as he stares at a particular picture of Luke where he’s smiling brightly into the camera, arms swung around Michael’s shoulders. He is actually spending his free Friday night scrolling to twitter to stalk a guy he met _twice._ Well, consciously met twice.

His life it pathetic.

 

\--

 

Two weeks later, Ashton cracks and finds himself sitting in the movie theater, alone, about to watch ‘Amnesia’. He didn’t want to go at first, not sure if he could survive seeing Luke in wide screen HD, but here he is anyway.

There’s mostly teenage girls in the audience and they send Ashton weird looks as he pretends to be on his phone.

The movie starts and ok maybe Ashton wasn’t ready after all to see Luke in full screen HD.

It’s just, Luke’s in these tanks tops and has these bright smiles and it’s a bit weird to see him acting all in love with Michael, but when they kiss it’s not hard for Ashton to imagine Luke’s kissing him instead and _fuck._

_He’s so in love with that boy._

The movie takes a turn for the worst then, as Michael slowly starts to lose his memory. Luke’s character, Pete, has this absolute hopelessness to him, but at the same time he tries to be strong for Michael’s character, Sammy, and Jesus, he is such a good actor.

_“Sammy?” Pete carefully calls out as he walks into the hospital room._

_Sammy’s eyes focus on Pete, but they’re not really looking at him, just sort of staring vaguely through him._

_“Who are you?” Sammy asks, eyes squinting. “Do I know you?”_

The strangled cry Luke’s character lets out hits Ashton straight in his heart and he feels the tears streaming down his face.

Exciting the theater, he has learned three things:

  1.        Teenage girls think it’s weird that a twenty something would go and watch a movie on his own and then cry for at least ten minutes when it’s finished.
  2.        Luke’s one hell of an actor.
  3.        He’s insanely, undeniable in love with Luke Hemmings.



 

\--

 

_@ashtonirwin: just went to watch amnesia. @lukehemmings and @michaelclifford absolutely smashed it! great movie lads! xx_

_@lukehemmings: @ashtonirwin glad you liked it mate! missed you at the premiere :((_

Ashton’s staring down at his phone, wondering whether or not this is actually happening.

But apparently it is, because his phone bleeps again and this time it’s a DM.

_@lukehemmings: hey ash, haven’t seen you in awhile! how have you been?_

_@ashtonirwin: sorry, boss didn’t want me at the amnesia premiere. i’ve been pretty good, you?_

_@lukehemmings: aaw, sucks bro, would’ve loved to see you there :)) i’m good, everyone seems pretty excited about amnesia, so that’s cool :D_

Ashton’s smiling at his phone, blushing slightly. They talk for a bit, until Luke has to go to bed ( _‘sorry man, early day tomorrow :((‘_ )

Ashton falls asleep that night with Luke’s phone number freshly saved on his phone and a permanent smile on his face.

\--

They have a casual conversation thing going on for a few days and Ashton’s itching to ask Luke to meet up with him, but he’s scared. What if Luke’s just being polite? What if Ashton like, makes a move and Luke doesn’t like it?

But then he receives a text message that changes everything.

_Hey ash, i'm in LA rn, you wanna meet up? maybe have some coffee or something?_

Ashton takes a deep breath. This is it, he thinks, as he types in a response

_yeah sure! it's a date ;)_

It takes a few minutes for Luke to text back and in that small time Ashton has already opted to throw his phone out of the window at least three times.

But then his phone bleeps and the text consists of a lot of smiley faces and a time and place and Ashton’s going to scream. He checks the time and sees he has exactly an hour before he’s supposed to be at the coffee shop he and Luke are meeting up so he jumps up from the couch and start the inevitable ‘what to wear’ battle with himself.

Ashton eventually goes for simple black skinny jeans, a tank top and a red plaid and arrives at the coffee shop ten minutes early, only to find Luke already standing there, typing away on his phone.

Luke turns slightly red when he sees Ashton approach with a raised eyebrow.

"Hi. Yeah, I eh, was a bit early."  Luke mutters, pocketing his phone.

Ashton smiles nervously. "Yeah, me too."

They stare at each other for awhile and fuck Luke looks good. He's literally just wearing a t-shirt and skinny jeans, but it's the way he wears it. All this confidence with an edge of nerves that shows in the way he shuffles his feet and smiles at Ashton.

Ashton's so head over heels for this boy it's ridiculous.

"You, eh, wanna go inside?" Luke says, gesturing towards the coffee shop they're standing in front of. Ashton nods and follows Luke as they walk inside.

It's a small, mostly empty coffee shop in a part of town Ashton's never been before, let alone knew existed in the first place, which he guesses Luke did to avoid fans, which he really appreciates. As much as he understands that Luke's really important to a lot of people who would love to meet him, this is their first date and Ashton kind of wants to have him to himself.

They quickly order their drinks and sit down at a table in the far back. The table is pretty small (or Ashton and Luke are bigger than the shop's usual clientele) which means their knees knock together every time either of them moves.

It feels familiar, like they've been like this for years, like it had always been supposed to be like this.

"So, how are you?" Luke asks, absentmindedly stirring his coffee. He looks a lot more relaxed now they're sitting down, shoulders less tense and a small smile on his face.

Ashton nods. "Yeah, I'm good. You?"

Luke scrunches up his nose. "Busy, mostly. But luckily I had some time left in my schedule today. I, eh, really wanted to see you." He says,

Ashton blushes. "Yeah, me too. Wanted to see you. Not me. I see me enough as it is." Ashton blurts out. Smooth, Irwin. Very smooth.

Luke laughs. "Good, I just, eh, I thought we really connected? And I really wanted to like, talk to you more but at the interview Calum dragged me off and then at the red carpet I had to drag Harry off before he embarrassed me too much, so yeah, I, eh, I'm not getting this wrong, right? This is a date isn't it? Like a date date?"  Luke's bright red and stuttering at this point and Ashton just wants to reach over and pull the poor boy in a hug and tell him everything's going to be all right, but instead he opts for smiling brightly and nodding.

"Yeah, this is definitely a date." Ashton says and Luke smiles brightly.

"I'm gonna be honest with you," Luke says, leaning forward slightly. "I kind of eh, saw you in the crowd at the Oscars and I was like 'Oh wow, he's really cute' and then you suddenly fell to the ground and I was so worried? So that's why I tried to safe you." Luke says, before adding, "oh man you must think I'm so weird now."  

Ashton smiles shyly. "Luke, I've had your face staring at me from multiple posters on multiple different walls for years, I'm pretty sure you're not the weird one here."

Luke laughs and Ashton just wants to fish the sound out of the air and stuff it in a jar so it can keep him company on rainy days.

"But in all seriousness, I do really like you too." Ashton said, leaning forward too and softly nudging his hand against Luke's.

Luke blushes and looks at their barely touching hands and doesn't hesitate in intertwining their fingers.

They share a small, secret smile between the two of them and Ashton didn't think life could actually be this perfect.

\--

The rest of their afternoon is filled with small talk and blushing and laughter and when Luke looks at his watch and tells Ashton he really needs to go home because of some important dinner thing he has later Ashton slightly pouts.

Which Luke of course sees, and like the gentleman he is, he offers to walk Ashton home.

Ashton, slightly selfish in situations like these, gladly takes the opportunity to spend even more time with Luke and accepts the boy's offer. Ashton's hand itches to grab Luke's as they start walking into the direction of Ashton's flat, but he stops himself anyway, knowing the risk of bumping into fans when they're outside is a lot bigger than back in the coffee shop.

Way too soon they arrive at the front door of Ashton's flat.

"So." Luke says, turning his body towards Ashton, hand buried deep in the pockets of his skinny jeans. Ashton momentarily wonders how he even fit his hands in there, since there already seems to be too little space for his legs, let alone his hands. He shakes the thought quickly when he finds Luke looking at him through his lashes, nervously biting his lips.

"So." Ashton says, fumbling in his pocket for his keys, but not really looking for them, as he tries to stretch out the moment as long as possible.

They stare at each other for a few seconds and suddenly Luke leans over and presses a soft kiss to Ashton's mouth before quickly pulling away and blushing furiously.

"Can I, eh, see you again? Like, another date?" Luke asks, seemingly interested with his shoes and the pavement.

Ashton's mind is screaming aggressive agreeing statements, but he eventually settles for "Yeah, definitely."

Luke looks up and smiles at him and Ashton leans forward again for another short kiss. "Text me?" He mumbles when he pulls away.

Luke nods furiously. "Definitely. Yes, absolutely."

Ashton laughs. "All right, see you later, Luke." Ashton says, finally pulling his keys out of his pocket.

"See you later, Ash." Luke says, before turning around and walking in the direction they came from.

Ashton unlocks the door and is about to head inside when he looks over his shoulder one last time, only to see Luke do some weird sort of victory dance in the middle of the street. He shakes his head fondly before going inside and closing the door behind him.

The rest of the night it's impossible to keep the smile of his face.

\--

They’re kind of a thing after that. They never speak about what they are exactly, but they spend time together whenever their busy schedules allow it.

It’s mostly hanging out at each other’s places and sharing careful, soft kisses while watching sappy romantic movies and eating popcorn, but it’s perfect and Ashton has never felt as happy in his entire life as he is now.

(“You are so smitten it’s actually starting to get creepy.” Niall states, while Ashton starts with the biggest grin at his phone, which displays multiple texts from Luke, who is apparently very bored.

“Fuck off.” Ashton says, but the words don’t really sound harsh because it’s impossible to wipe the smile of his face.

Niall sighs and fondly ruffles Ashton’s hair. “Be careful, yeah?”

Ashton looks up from his phone and sends a reassuring smile in Niall’s direction. “Always.”

“Just like at the Oscars.” Niall ads, evil smile on his face. The comment earns him a pillow in the face.)

But whatever it is they have, it’s good.

And then it’s Oscars time again.

Ashton is surprised when his boss tells him he’s assigned the red carpet again, but he’s absolutely not complaining. He knows what to expect now, and he’s not letting the events from last year effect his performance from this year.

So there Niall and him are, once again at the Oscars, equipment ready as the B-stars start pouring in. Michael’s not one of them this year and Ashton’s  actually really happy about that. He knows this is mostly because of ‘Amnesia’ since the movie is nominated for 9 awards, which means Michael is officially part of the big leagues now.

And Luke, god Luke. Ashton almost threw his phone out of the window when he heard the news, because Luke is, once again, nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

This does mean he has barely seen Luke in the days leading up to the Oscars, which is slightly disappointing. But it’s all worth it when he sees Luke walking the red carpet in a fancy suit with, after Ashton’s recommendation, a bowtie.

Just like the year before there’s people screaming at him and taking pictures but Luke’s eyes are focused solely on Ashton. Ashton is staring right back, but also manages to skillfully avoid any microphones and elbows that come swinging his way.

“Hello.” Luke says, stopping right in front of Ashton.

“Hello, Luke Hemmings.”Ashton says, putting emphasis on Luke’s last name to let the boy know they have to be professional right now. These are the Oscars, no time for giggly flirting, no matter how much Ashton would like that. “I’m going to ask you right of the bat: This is the second time you’ve been nominated for the same award, how high do you think your chances are of actually winning it this year compared to last year?”

Luke furrows his eyebrows in thought. Ashton wants to smooth out the wrinkles and kiss him on his nose. “Well, I already thought my chances of winning it were already small last year, but this year the competition is even stronger and the chances of winning an Oscar like this two years in a row is just impossible. But the honor of being nominated in the first place is already so wonderful and the Oscars are always just so much fun so it doesn’t really matter if I win or lose tonight, really.”

“But it would be cool?” Ashton asks, eyebrow raised, small smile on his face.

Luke smiles back at him. “Yeah, of course it’d be cool.”

They stare at each other for a few seconds, having an almost silent conversation with their eyes, something along the lines of ‘I’m so proud of you, I’m so proud of you, I’m so proud of you.’

Luke knows Ashton was nervous about doing the Oscars again and he’s obviously trying to assure Ashton with his eyes. It’s actually working, because looking at Luke makes Ashton calmer, makes it easier to breath, makes him relax.

So when Calum leans over Luke’s shoulder and tells Ashton Luke really only has time to do one question and that he now has to move on to the next, Ashton just nods and wishes Luke good luck before both boys disappear into the crowd, Luke already talking to the next interviewer.

Ashton talks to a few other actors (and of course Michael) and then the Oscars are already starting and him and Niall are ushered into the press waiting room.

The press waiting room is actually a huge room in the Dolby theatre where all the reporters and interviewers can watch the Oscars live on huge television screens on the walls.

It’s a lot of fun, because Ashton and Niall play a drinking game (but instead of alcohol they use sprite, because they still have the press conference with the winners afterwards and they kind of need to be sober for that) which mostly consist of ‘drink whenever someone cries’ or ‘drink whenever they thank the academy’. So they have gone through about three bottles of sprite when the winner for Best Actor in a Leading Role gets announced, which basically means both Ashton and Niall are jumping of the walls from the sugar rush.

“And the winner for Best Actor in a Leading Role is…”

Ashton and Niall grab each other’s arms and lean closer to the screen , to the annoyance of the other people in the room.

“Luke Hemmings!”

Ashton actually screams his throat raw and Niall’s jumping all over the place and they don’t realize how weird it is until the look around and see the blank faces of the other reporters. “Right, sorry, bit too much sugar.” Ashton quickly says, before focusing on the screen again.

Luke’s walking to the stage at that point, bright smile on his face and waving excitedly at people in the crowd. He somehow manages to look like an excited puppy and a sex god at the same time and Ashton kind of wishes he was right there next to him so he could tell Luke how proud he is of him.

Luke takes the award and just stares at it for a few moments, slightly shocked excited smile on his face and Ashton’s actually going to melt.

Luke’s speech is short and simple, thanking some people that worked on the film (“And thanks to Mikey, for being a sort of decent kisser”). But then there’s the last line.

“And finally, I want to thank someone who means a lot to me and who I really got to know better over the last few months and I hope we can continue that. Thank you!”

Luke’s looking straight into the camera and it looks like he’s looking right at Ashton and he’s smiling with a slight blush on his face and Ashton’s going to _cry._

“Dude. Dude!” Niall exclaims next to him and Ashton nods frantically.

“I know, Niall, _I know._ ”

\--

Ashton’s kind of head over heels in love with Luke right now, especially after the thank you words at the end of his speech.

Which is probably why he manages to fuck up pretty badly at the press conference.

It’s just, Luke’s standing there, on stage, with the golden statue in his hands and he’s smiling brightly and practically _shining_ and suddenly he’s pointing to Ashton and saying  “First question. You?”

And Ashton lifts his microphone to his lips and he’s staring straight into Luke’s bright blue eyes and all that comes out is “Fuck, I am so proud of you.”

Luke’s face is a combination of practically combusting with happiness and slight panic and Calum’s signing ‘you are dead’ signals his way and Niall’s frantically poking his shoulder and Ashton coughs uncomfortable. “Uh, I’m sorry, just eh, really love your work, big fan, yeah.” Ashton mumbles into the microphone.

“Anyway, you’ve won again, which is obviously a sign of great talent, but do you feel like you’ve improved over the year? Is there a different Luke standing here this year compared to the Luke that’s standing here now?” Asthon finally asks, still blushing furiously.

Luke smirks and all Ashton can think is ‘Oh no’.

“Well, yeah, I don’t know if I’ve necessarily improved on the acting side, but like every acting job brings along a certain amount of learning experience you know? But I do think there’s a different Luke standing here right now. Especially one with a lot more balls, someone who did some things that lead him to someone he holds very dear to him and someone who makes him a better person, so that’s definitely a change.” Luke’s looking straight at Ashton the entire time, just like during the speech earlier and Ashton starts to think Luke’s doing things like these on purpose.

“Thank you for the answer.” He manages to squeak out and then Luke’s moving on to the next question and Ashton still standing there, staring ahead a bit dumbfounded.

Niall nudges his shoulder and smiles brightly. “So smitten.” He mumbles and Ashton just glares at him.

\--

Ashton heads straight home after the press conference. Luke and him talked about a possible meet up after the Oscars were over, but Luke has to attend the Vanity Fair after party and talk to important people and Ashton being there would just be too much of a distraction (Luke’s words, not his).

This was before Luke actually _won_ an Oscar though and Ashton’s skin is itching to hug Luke, to properly tell him how proud he is of him, how much he actually means to him.

But he has to have patience. Luke and him are supposed to meet up for lunch tomorrow and he just has to wait until then and it’s not that long, literally less than a day, but _still._

He sighs and takes of his clothes until he’s only in his underwear and heads into the bathroom to brush his teeth. Just as he’s about to exit the bathroom again to head straight to his bed, the doorbell rings.

Ashton frowns, but shuffles to the door anyway. As he grabs the door handle he realizes he’s still in his underwear, but he figures that whoever’s at the door at this time of the night knows him well enough to not be ashamed to see him in his underwear.

He pulls open the door and stares straight into Luke’s bright blue eyes. “What.” He says, because Luke’s not supposed to be here, Luke’s supposed to be at the Vanity Fair party, letting people congratulate him and probably get a bit drunk, but instead he’s _here._

But Luke doesn’t respond, just grabs Ashton by his shoulders and pushes him into the wall and slams his mouth to Ashton’s and _wow._ They’ve kissed before, but those were al sweet soft kisses, nothing too complicated, just little outings of love, but this, _this is the real deal._

Ashton’s hands find his way to Luke’s waist and curl into the soft fabric of his suit jacket and Luke curls his hands in Ashton’s hair as he slowly pries Ashton’s mouth open his his lips and _fuck_ Ashton’s so overwhelmed.

“Why,” Ashton starts, when they pull away to regain their breath. “Why are you here?”

Luke’s face slightly falls. “Shit, was I not supposed to do that? Do you not want me here? Shit, fuck, sorry, I’ll, I’ll go.” Luke says, immediately detaching himself from Ashton and Ashton actually honest to god _whines_ at the loss of contact.

“No, no, no, don’t leave, please don’t leave, I just meant, why are you here and not listening to people praise you into the high heavens at the Vanity Fair party?” Ashton asks, pulling Luke closer again.

“Wanted to see you.” Luke breaths out, leaning his forehead against Ashton’s. “Plus, all those words mean nothing if they aren’t coming from your lips.”

“Fuck, Luke, I, you know I meant what I said, right? At the press conference? I am seriously so, so proud of you, you have no idea.” Ashton says, his hands finding his way into Luke’s hair.

“I’m pretty proud of you too, for standing there again despite of what happened last year.” Luke says, bright smile on his face, his hands on Ashton’s waist.

Ashton shakes his head. “Nothing compared to winning an Oscar. _Again._ ”

Luke laughs and bumps his nose against Ashton’s. “Trust me, Ash, those weird golden statues are nothing compared to you.” He whispers, before kissing Ashton again.

And yeah, Niall’s probably right. They’re both so, so insanely smitten.

\--

When Ashton wakes up the next morning there’s an arm slung over his chest and a face nuzzling into his collarbone. “Morning, Luke.” He croaks, smile on his face.

“Morning.” Luke mumbles into his collarbone.

“Slept well?” Ashton asks, fondly staring at Luke, who’s still refusing to properly look at Ashton.

“Yes, but let’s be real here, I won another Oscar and I went to bed with the most perfect human being on the planet you could’ve put me on a bed of nails and I would still tell you I had a nice sleep.” Luke mumbles, finally looking up at Ashton with sleepy eyes and a lazy smile on his face.

Ashton can’t help but stare at him for a few seconds and Luke scrunches up his nose. “What? Why are you staring at me like that?”

“Be my boyfriend?” Ashton blurts out.

Luke raises an eyebrow. “Wasn’t I already?” He says with an amused smile on his face.

Ashton shrugs. “Just want to know for sure.”

Luke smiles and leans forward to peck him on the lips. “Of course I’ll be your boyfriend.”

Ashton smiles back and feels like his hearts actually going to explode with fond when Luke sighs contently and buries his head in Ashton’s shoulder again.

\--

_A year._

Asthon seriously can’t believe it’s been _a year_ since the last Oscars. So much has happened in that year. He and Luke became a couple, moved in together, he got a promotion at his job which means he’s now basically first in charge after his boss and Luke starred in another big Hollywood movie, that of course got nominated for the Oscars (though not Best Actor in a Leading Role this time. Ashton secretly kind of glad for that, it’s already overwhelming enough he’s dating a two time Oscar winner, let alone a _three time_ Oscar winner.).

And that’s why they’re here right now, in a limo, on their way to the Oscars. It’s weird, Ashton thinks. To not arrive at the Oscars in the trusty white van with Niall. But as he looks over at Luke, who’s intently staring out of the window, he doesn’t really mind.

“Hey, it’s going to be ok, all right?” Ashton says, because he knows Luke’s worried about this. It’s their first official outing as a couple and Luke’s scared of what everyone’s going to think. Ashton’s less worried, after all they haven’t been really subtle about being in love for the past year (he also thinks they couldn’t even if they tried) and he knows a lot of people probably see it coming.

“I know.” Luke says, smiling softly in Ashton’s direction.

“I love you.” Ashton says, grabbing Luke’s hand and looking directly into his eyes. “I love you and you are my everything and it’s going to be _fine._ We’re going to be fine.”

“I love you too.” Luke whispers, leaning forward to peck Ashton’s lips.

And then the car’s stopping and the driver is opening the door at Luke’s side and Luke’s stepping out and Ashton hears the crowd roar and Luke waves at them before turning back to the car and extending his hand toward Ashton.

They share quick, reassuring look, much like the one they shared at the Oscars the year before, and then Ashton grabs Luke’s hand and heads out of the car after him.

Once again, the crowd explodes and Ashton gives Luke a quick kiss on his cheek before they’re ushered of into the crowd.

Luke doesn’t let go of Ashton’s hand the entire night. Ashton doesn’t let go of Luke’s hand either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> find me on tumblr [here](http://ashthing.tumblr.com)

**Author's Note:**

> you can find me on tumblr [here](http://www.skatertotluke.tumblr.com)


End file.
